


Joy

by Feynite



Category: Neverwinter Nights
Genre: Drabble, Gen, Implied Ship, Short, mask of the betrayer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-01
Updated: 2015-11-01
Packaged: 2018-04-29 08:00:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5120888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Feynite/pseuds/Feynite
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A brief moment, after the curse is broken.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Joy

 

 

Silence. Relief. Joy.

 

The first fell across her in a reverse of the way noise had once returned to the Ashenwood – so serene, so complete, that she didn’t realize until after it had fallen how much _noise_ , not real noise but some deeper, mental jangling had filled her up beforehand.  Relief was not far behind it.  Oh, sweet relief, creeping down her spine and across her ribs, pooling in her stomach, resting behind her eyes and the skin of her brow, the blessed feeling of _not feeling_.  Not feeling hunger, not feeling pain, not feeling the strain of holding something utterly ravenous in check.

 

For a solid moment, there was only that.  Only that and the rise and fall of her breath as she lay, momentarily heedless of the miserable wall, of resented gods and treasured companions.  When the joy sprung up, it was like a sudden dam had burst inside of her.  In that instant, regardless of her sympathies or bitterness, of exhaustion, of future concerns or failures, of the suffering which other souls still endured, she couldn’t have felt misery even if she tried.  Her mind was clear.  Her memories solid, firm, old paths restored, and she felt tears pool in the corner of her eyes, and her mouth spread wide in a smile so broad that it was almost painful.

 

_Free_ , she thought, near-incoherent in the sensation.  No hunger in her soul.  No shard in her chest.  With a strength that defied the exhaustion of long battles -  both internal and external – the Knight Captain and Kalach-Cha, shard-bearer, sword-thief and spirit-eater, foster-daughter and shadow-slayer, leapt up from the ground where she lay in a sudden flight of giddiness.  She very nearly displaced poor Gann, who had been leaning over her (and possibly saying something to her, though she wasn’t entirely coherent enough to note it) but rectified the motion in time to grasp him instead.  Laughter filled up the air.

 

It was a sound not entirely suited to their surroundings.  But there it was, and she clutched Gann to her, smelling sweat and the blood of Kelemvor’s paladins against his clothes.  “Free,” she whispered to him, in heady tones.  “I’m free, I’m _free_.”

 

Uncommonly, he didn’t seem to have any words for that, though his arms did close around her in return.  He held her tight.  But she was not content to one embrace, and soon enough dragged Safiya into it as well.  If she’d had the strength and knowledge of how to group-hug a bear god, Okku likely would not have escaped as well.  As it stood, it only took a moment before she disentangled herself from her red wizard and dream-walked and threw her arms around his neck anyway, burying her face into the curls of fur there.  Dignity thrust aside for a moment, she felt like she hadn’t felt since she was a little girl, running through the Sterling farm with Bevil and Amie.  “I’m free,” she repeated.

 

Okku’s voice rumbled out beneath her grasp.  “I am happy for you, little one,” he said.

 

The words broke the spell, but it was a spell that needed to be broken, lest she do something entirely unsuitable and try to hug Kelemvor or some such.  Her joy settled, and began to temper itself.  She let out a breath, heavy and quiet, and after a moment released Okku, and turned her gaze up towards the inscrutable masked figure of death’s god.

 

Back to matters at hand again.


End file.
